Each week, ESPN.com.au AFL draft expert Christopher Doerre - aka Knightmare - casts his eye over the country's best junior footballers to give readers an early insight into the next generation of AFL stars.
As well as attending live games, Doerre pores through match vision, analyses the stats and talks to industry sources to ensure he can offer the most insightful draft analysis.
Aside from the weekly wrap, Doerre will also unveil his power rankings at the end of each month, starting from April.
And as we get closer to November's national draft, Doerre will also predict who goes where with his annual phantom draft.
Player focus
In a losing Northern Territory team against a full-strength Sandringham Dragons outfit, Brandon Parfitt demonstrated his considerable athletic ability despite the heavy loss.
The 177cm midfielder primarily plays for North Adelaide in the SANFL competition this year but also represents his home state (Northern Territory) in the TAC Cup, as he did on Saturday.
Several times during the match, Parfitt launched brilliant solo runs, getting spectators off their feet. The most eye-catching was a run that began at the right half-back flank. At speed, Parfitt ran into the centre square where he avoided two tacklers, dished off by hand to a teammate, continued running, received the ball again and kept sprinting forward. At the left half-forward flank, Parfitt kicked long to the advantage of a team-mate in the goal square for what should have been a certain goal, but his team-mate could not finish off Parfitt's brilliant play.
Parfitt can also baffle opponents in unconventional ways. Once in the centre square, he received the ball on the move and then stopped without warning. Everyone else on the field seemed to stop to watch what Parfitt would do next, and then, after a three-second pause, Parfitt accelerated again, dancing around opposition midfielders in front of him. It encapsulated his great balance, composure and ability to accelerate from a standing start.
While Parfitt is a running machine, he also offers other areas of strength. Representing the AIS Academy in their game against VFL side Werribee, what stood out most with Parfitt was his tackling and energy around the ball, using his speed to apply great pressure on opposition midfielders. He stood up in tackles, getting handballs off and even pick-pocketed the ball from the hands of an opponent in general play.
Parfitt also has good contested-ball winning ability and is a capable mark for his size and good one-on-one player, who can win contests both overhead and at ground level.
Analysis
Where improvement is needed in Parfitt's game is in his work by foot. He is generally a good decision-maker with ball in hand, showing creativity at times. He is not affected by pressure as many who struggle by foot can be, so he looks very capable with ball in hand in those respects.
The issue is, he's prone to committing bad turnovers and missing target by foot. Often the weighting on his kicks are slightly off. This issue was particularly evident for AIS against Werribee when several of his kicks resulted in missed opportunities or bad turnovers. Because Parfitt boasts fine decision-making, composure and creativity with ball in hand, his footskills do look fixable, so that will be something to track over the course of the season.
As a sub-180cm midfielder with possibly suspect footskills, Parfitt's draft position is unclear at this early stage, but given the strength of his performances early season, his competitiveness and running ability, Parfitt may receive first round consideration if he continues his improvement and cleans up his work by foot and hits his targets more consistently.
Victorian prospect watch
Key forward Josh Battle played his second TAC Cup game of the season for Dandenong Stringrays, kicking four goals while taking eight strong marks. Battle, at 192cm, 90kg, is a strong-bodied, strong contested marking key forward with a real presence to him.
In his first game of the season he kicked four goals and took 10 marks (five contested) and with continued strong performances, may be in the mix for first-round selection come draft day. He could potentially be the first key forward selected this year if his early performances are a sign of things to come.
Potential Collingwood father-son prospect Callum Brown (son of Collingwood premiership player Gavin) stood out for Eastern in their win against Tasmania and was named in the bests for the second time this season, finishing the match with an impressive 30 disposals. The 177cm, 69kg midfielder/forward is smaller in stature than his father but shares his appetite for the contest, tackling with energy and he can win the contested ball when it is his turn.
He also uses the ball cleanly, has a decent burst of speed and has the ability to finish around goal. With continued improvement and strong play, Brown may receive consideration late draft or as a rookie.
Midfielder Dylan Clarke (brother of North Melbourne's Ryan) was another player to again impress for Eastern rotating between the midfield and front half. Clarke, 187cm, showed a diverse bag of tricks for Eastern with 28 disposals, nine tackles and three goals. He won the ball in the contest, laid strong tackles, took a solid contested mark in the front half and provided strong scoreboard impact. However the most impressive element of his game was his kicking, with his ability to set up several scoring opportunities for team-mates a feature. Several of his kicks into the forward 50m resulted in goals.
South Australian prospect watch
In the SANFL Under-18s, 200cm ruckman Peter Ladhalms put forward his strongest performance of the season in Norwood's win over South Adelaide. He collected an impressive 18 disposals, five marks, 26 hit-outs and two goals (from four scoring shots). With decreased interchange numbers in the AFL now, clubs are more than ever looking for ruckmen who can impact as a forward, so Ladhalms could be in hot demand on draft day if he can continue to hit the scoreboard.
Bottom-ager Stefan Giro for Norwood bettered his outstanding performance from last week of 40 disposals with 44 touches, nine clearances, eight inside-50s and six rebound 50s. Team-mate Isaac Hewson also was terrific with 32 disposals, nine clearances, and eight inside 50s.
Jake Wohling had a huge game for North Adelaide in their win against West Adelaide finishing the game with 39 disposals (19 contested possessions), 10 clearances and a goal.
For West Adelaide 192cm backman Lachlan Cameron put forward an eye-catching effort with 26 touches (18 contested possessions), 12 tackles and six clearances. With Cameron achieving such outstanding contested possession and tackle numbers, it would be interesting to see what he can achieve as a permanent on-baller, as he has already proven effective down back with his intercept marking ability in the under-18s.
West Australian prospect watch: Top WA prospects Sam Powell-Pepper and Joshua Rotham continued their strong form in the WA Colts (under-18s). Powell-Pepper managed a season-high 28 disposals for East Perth while Rotham continued his consistency with another 22-possession game for West Perth.
Potential West Coast father-son selection Jake Waterman capitalised up forward on Claremont's dominance over Peel Thunder with 18 disposals, seven marks and five goals. Waterman is a big bodied medium forward at 189cm, 86kg who offers a strong marking presence in the front half. Like Jake's older brother Alec, who was drafted by West Coast in 2014, Jake is also viewed, based on past performance, as being a strong national draft chance.
Bailey Banfield (not to be confused with Drew Banfield's son who also is named Bailey but some years yet away from being draft eligible) continued his strong form through Claremont's midfield with 28 disposals, 10 tackles, four inside 50s and a goal in a best on ground performance.
Top-age player Quinton Narkle also made an impression with 35 disposals, five inside 50s and a goal in Perth's win against East Perth. With a December birthday, Narkle may, with continued improvement, be a player to watch.
Division 2 states (Tasmania, Northern Territory, NSW/ACT, Queensland and Northern Academy) prospects watch
In Tasmania's loss to Eastern, top-ager Nick Dodge was the clear standout putting forward a statement game, catching the eye of all in attendance and making it clear that recruiters may have made a mistake overlooking him in last year's draft. Dodge put on a one-man show, managing an incredible 36 disposals (28 kicks, of which 20 were efficient), five marks, seven tackles and one goal.
Last year, Dodge who is 179cm, played primarily as a small forward, kicking 14 goals from his four TAC Cup games and five goals from his three games through the 2015 National Under-18 Championships, showing real power to his game with his explosive movement, marking prowess, ability at ground level to win 50/50 balls and his exceptional goal sense.
Against Eastern, Dodge played a different role to what we have typically seen of him in the past, running off a half-back flank. Throughout the game, he stood out with his willingness to provide run and carry with ball in hand, looking consistently to run at least 10m before disposing of the ball, going on several 20m breaks and an ultra impressive 40m run with ball in hand at one stage. His efforts at half-back were akin to what Gold Coast's Adam Saad regularly displays, with their physical profiles overall not dissimilar.
GWS Academy prospect Will Setterfield, from Albury, plays for Sandringham in the TAC Cup competition in Victoria but is completing his schooling at Caulfield Grammar.
He is a 190cm midfielder who thrives at stoppages and also stands out with his ball use and did exactly that in Sandringham's win over Northern Territory as the dominant player on ground through the first half. One eye-catching play from Setterfield was when he displayed a nice spin move in traffic to avoid opposition tackles, promptly going on to hit a target by foot. Setterfield also at one stage showed a nice vertical leap for a strong mark overhead, which as we've seen with Fremantle's Nat Fyfe, is potentially a substantial weapon for a tall midfielder.
Unfortunately in the third quarter, Setterfield was forced from the field after a hard hit and he had his leg iced up for the remainder of the game, taking no further part. His 19 disposals, five marks and a goal were excellent output for just over a half of footy.
GWS prospect and running machine Kobe Mutch continued to find the footy in bunches for Bendigo with 44 disposals, 11 marks and six tackles in an entertaining game against Oakleigh.
Star Queensland trio Jack Bowes (33 disposals), Bradley Scheer (25 touches and three goals) and Jacob Allison (22 disposals and one goal) shone for Queensland in their win against Western Jets. Bowes and Scheer are both members of the Gold Coast Academy while Allison is a member of the Brisbane Academy. All three are highly rated draft prospects this year, and are first-round chances in this year's national draft.
Jack Rolls (Brisbane Academy) also did not disappoint with 30 disposals and is a second academy prospect Brisbane will keep their eyes on and likely also look to secure at season's end if he continues his improvement.